Williams Blackstock Architects

What Williams Blackstock Architects does

Williams Blackstock Architects is a full-service architectural design firm headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, founded in 1994. The firm operates across five integrated service lines: Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Historic Preservation, and Environmental Graphics, serving clients in the Civic, Corporate, Education, Healthcare, Housing, Industrial, Lifestyle, and Religious sectors. Its client base skews heavily toward institutional and public-sector buyers in Alabama and the broader Southeast, with deep, repeat relationships with anchor customers including Auburn University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Children's of Alabama, the State of Alabama Veterans Affairs, and multiple municipal governments. The firm has developed a recognized specialty in adaptive reuse and historic preservation, guided by expertise in the Secretary of Interior's Standards and Federal/State Historic Tax Credit navigation, evidenced by award-winning projects such as Innovation Depot (renovation of the historic Sears building), the Auburn in Birmingham satellite campus, and the EJI Legacy Pavilion.

The firm employs approximately 40 professionals across architecture and interior design disciplines and is structured as a partnership led by founder Joel Blackstock, President Stephen Allen, and CFO Amanda Fowler, alongside more than 20 named partners across practice areas. It generates revenue exclusively through fee-based professional service contracts with project-based pricing determined by scope, complexity, and deliverables. Distribution is entirely direct, with enterprise field sales targeting institutional clients through RFP responses and relationship-based business development; there are no resellers or channel partners. The firm has been consistently recognized in the Birmingham Business Journal's Top Architecture Firm rankings (#1 in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019; #2 in 2016, 2018/2019) and Architectural Record's Top 300, and is the first architecture firm in Alabama to achieve the Just 2.0 label from the International Living Future Institute. Its go-to-market relies on reputation, industry awards, university career fair recruitment, and civic engagement rather than paid marketing or sales acceleration, consistent with a high-trust, relationship-driven professional services model.

Name

Williams Blackstock Architects

Legal name

Williams Blackstock Architects

Website

https://wba-architects.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Williams Blackstock Architects is a Birmingham, Alabama-based, full-service architectural design firm founded in 1994 with approximately 40 professionals. It delivers architecture, interior design, planning, historic preservation, and environmental graphics services to institutional clients across higher education, healthcare, and civic/government sectors in the Southeast United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Birmingham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Architectural Design Services: Fee-based architectural design services for new construction, renovation, adaptive reuse, and historic preservation projects. Revenue generated through professional service contracts with clients including municipalities, universities, healthcare systems, and private developers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Williams Blackstock Architects is a full-service architectural design firm providing five core service lines: Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Historic Preservation, and Environmental Graphics. The firm delivers new construction, renovation, adaptive reuse, and historic preservation projects across sectors including civic, corporate, education, healthcare, housing, industrial, lifestyle, and religious, with concentration in Alabama and the southeastern United States.

Product overview

Williams Blackstock Architects is a full-service architectural design firm offering five core service lines: Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Historic Preservation, and Environmental Graphics. Founded in 1994 and based in Birmingham, Alabama, the firm serves diverse sectors including Civic, Corporate, Education, Healthcare, Housing, Industrial, Lifestyle, and Religious projects across the southeastern United States. The firm cultivates collaborative partnerships based on innovative problem-solving and deep expertise, helping clients bridge the gap between their business and architectural needs. Notable project categories include higher education facilities, healthcare buildings, mixed-use developments, veteran homes, adaptive reuse of historic structures, and corporate offices.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architecture

Quantifiable outcome

• Auburn in Birmingham adaptive reuse project contributed to revitalization of previously dormant section of downtown Birmingham's central business district

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Innovation DepotcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWilliams Blackstock Architects designed the $14 million, 140,000 SF renovation of the historic Sears building into Innovation Depot's headquarters - a non-profit business incubator for startups combining Entrepreneurial Center resources with UAB's Office for Developing Industries. This project serves as a catalyst for downtown Birmingham revitalization.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• KPS Group: Birmingham, Alabama-based architecture and interior design firm of comparable size serving similar institutional, healthcare, and corporate clients across the Southeast. Directly competes with Williams Blackstock in the Birmingham market for similar project types.
• TurnerBatson Architects: Birmingham-based architecture firm with similar full-service capabilities and comparable project portfolio across civic, education, and commercial sectors. Direct local market competitor with overlapping client base in Alabama.
• Goodwyn Mills Cawood: Birmingham-headquartered architecture, engineering, and planning firm with comparable scale and similar higher education, healthcare, and civic sector focus. Direct peer in the Alabama/Southeast institutional market.
• Sherlock, Smith & Adams: Huntsville, Alabama-based architecture firm with comparable size and similar higher education, healthcare, and government client mix. Direct regional peer competing in the Alabama institutional market.

Broad incumbents

• Lord Aeck Sargent: Atlanta-based architecture firm with comparable higher education, healthcare, and adaptive reuse sector focus. Regional incumbent with broader geographic reach and similar design philosophy, competing for Southeast institutional projects.
• HKS Inc: Dallas-based global architecture firm with deep healthcare and higher education practices that regularly pursues large institutional projects in the Southeast market. Represents the type of national competitor Williams Blackstock faces on larger commissions.
• Perkins&Will: Global architecture firm with major healthcare and education practices that competes for institutional projects across the Southeast. Represents national incumbent competition on flagship healthcare and university campus work.
• SmithGroup: Detroit-based integrated design firm with strong higher education, healthcare, and civic practices. Comparable in its multi-discipline service model (architecture, interior design, planning) and competes for similar institutional clients nationally.
• HOK: Global architecture, engineering, and planning firm with substantial healthcare, education, and civic practices. National incumbent that pursues major institutional projects across the Southeast and competes on larger commissions.
• EwingCole: Philadelphia-based architecture and engineering firm with deep healthcare and higher education practices. Comparable in its multi-discipline service offering and institutional client focus, competing for similar regional healthcare and university projects.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/williams-blackstock-architects
• Xx.com/wbaarchitects
• Facebookfacebook.com/williamsblackstock

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Williams Blackstock Architects